Kore Torsion flat bar cut down from 710mm to 670mm on a 100mm Truvativ Stylo T20 stem. Light mounts at the center of the bar. I lost my bar plugs and need to replace em before I get a chunk of love handle taken out.

Uh, Dimond Canyon Trail (yes that is spelled correctly) in Oakland CA, going down a steep downhill switchback staircase. I leaned on the front brake going super slow a bit too much with the bars cocked pretty far around. The rim took all of my weight with the wheel sideways to dead stop the bike when I wussed out. Wups.

Heh... I ended up doing another 15 dirt miles on it before riding home.

I love this town. Imagine having some decent legal techy singletrack puzzles to solve a quarter mile from your front door that you can ride year 'round, that lead up to some more great trails. Yep... that's my backyard!

Sketchy, it is on sale now for 21 dollars! U can go back and get ur $ back. It is great and strong, much lighter than my Ritchy one!!!
The performance bikes salesperson told me that if it break, they will replace it!

I am running a set of Answer 20/20 Enduro bars held by a Syncros stem with Ergon GS1 grips.There have only been a couple rides with them so far but they will become favorites quickly. Universal cycles seemed to have the best deal when combined with their 10% off coupon.

I'm in the minority. I'm rocking 560mm bars. There are narrow trees where I ride and I couldn't imagine riding with some of these bars and you probably feel the same way about my bike. There were some very tight spots when I was using my 580 bar last year.

I rode narrow bars for years...

Originally Posted by Rod

I'm in the minority. I'm rocking 560mm bars. There are narrow trees where I ride and I couldn't imagine riding with some of these bars and you probably feel the same way about my bike. There were some very tight spots when I was using my 580 bar last year.

... and wondered why I had no lung capacity. I went wide, and aaaaaall opened up. I suggest trying it if you haven't before.

The doping gives them super human powers; us mountain bikers need all the help we can get.

Of course, the doping issue had to be thrown in as we all know that anybody who throws their leg over a road bike must dope, right?

I assume many - if not most of us - also ride a road bike (like when the trails are muddy). And some do gravel riding on rigs with drop bars, some others cyclocross, etc... . Typical width of drop bars are 400, 420, 440, 460, and up to 480mm width. One's anatomy doesn't seem to stop functioning (let alone one's lung capacity) due to the width of a handlebar. Yet it always gets tossed out in the discussion that wider bars equate to deeper breathing. Hmmmm.......really?

I think if you hooked somebody up to a volume of air measuring device and recorded the data, they would be able to inhale the same amount of air into their lungs (lung capacity) whether their arms were at their sides, straight out in front of them, spread out in front of them, or even with their arms crossed over their chest.

If we are talking about Rod's comment that he likes 560mm (and even 580mm) width bars for the tight, tree lined singletrack that he rides, then that translates to around a 22" - 22 3/4" width. I'm a big guy at nearly 6'4" around 190 pounds (at the moment). If I measure my width from outside of arm to outside of arm, it's a hair under 20" in width. In other words - holding my arms straight out in front of me with no impedance on my chest cavity - means that Rod's bars would have me spreading my wings about an inch to an inch and a half wider than their normal hanging at my sides position. So I fail to understand the oft quoted "wider bars will open you up and improve your breathing" or how a wider bar could physically allow one to add more "lung capacity" when I get a full deep breath very easily on my iddy biddy narrow road bike bars of 440mm width.

The main area of a low and deep breath is our abdominal area below the rib cage. If one is sitting on the bike in a good position, it is the abodominal area that should be extending during a full breath - not a high clavicular breath in the upper chest. The thoracic cage should already be extended in a good riding posture so it is not rising and falling with each breath (high breathing or clavicular breathing is really a shallow breath).

Obviously a pet peeve of mine when I hear the "myth" that wide bars improves one's breathing or lung capacity. I could stand to be proven incorrect on that, but I'd have to see the medical data that shows one's lung capacity and breathing do not function at their full ability based on the difference between a 560 or 580mm width bar and one that is wider (provided one's posture and position on the bike is correct).

Not all road bikers dope....

Originally Posted by BruceBrown

Of course, the doping issue had to be thrown in as we all know that anybody who throws their leg over a road bike must dope, right?

I assume many - if not most of us - also ride a road bike (like when the trails are muddy). And some do gravel riding on rigs with drop bars, some others cyclocross, etc... . Typical width of drop bars are 400, 420, 440, 460, and up to 480mm width. One's anatomy doesn't seem to stop functioning (let alone one's lung capacity) due to the width of a handlebar. Yet it always gets tossed out in the discussion that wider bars equate to deeper breathing. Hmmmm.......really?

I think if you hooked somebody up to a volume of air measuring device and recorded the data, they would be able to inhale the same amount of air into their lungs (lung capacity) whether their arms were at their sides, straight out in front of them, spread out in front of them, or even with their arms crossed over their chest.

If we are talking about Rod's comment that he likes 560mm (and even 580mm) width bars for the tight, tree lined singletrack that he rides, then that translates to around a 22" - 22 3/4" width. I'm a big guy at nearly 6'4" around 190 pounds (at the moment). If I measure my width from outside of arm to outside of arm, it's a hair under 20" in width. In other words - holding my arms straight out in front of me with no impedance on my chest cavity - means that Rod's bars would have me spreading my wings about an inch to an inch and a half wider than their normal hanging at my sides position. So I fail to understand the oft quoted "wider bars will open you up and improve your breathing" or how a wider bar could physically allow one to add more "lung capacity" when I get a full deep breath very easily on my iddy biddy narrow road bike bars of 440mm width.

The main area of a low and deep breath is our abdominal area below the rib cage. If one is sitting on the bike in a good position, it is the abodominal area that should be extending during a full breath - not a high clavicular breath in the upper chest. The thoracic cage should already be extended in a good riding posture so it is not rising and falling with each breath (high breathing or clavicular breathing is really a shallow breath).

Obviously a pet peeve of mine when I hear the "myth" that wide bars improves one's breathing or lung capacity. I could stand to be proven incorrect on that, but I'd have to see the medical data that shows one's lung capacity and breathing do not function at their full ability based on the difference between a 560 or 580mm width bar and one that is wider (provided one's posture and position on the bike is correct).

I was just making a bad joke about the doping. Wide bars help a lot on my single speed as far as leverage ... I've never noticed a lung expansion boast. Granted I've not ridden anything less than 665mm in 20 years.

Imagine having some decent legal techy singletrack puzzles to solve a quarter mile from your front door that you can ride year 'round, that lead up to some more great trails. Yep... that's my backyard!